Committee of Public Safety
The Committee of Public Safety was an ostensibly interim government of the People's Republic of Haven from 1905 to 1915 PD, haven taken power in an emergency situation. In fact, it was the intended result of a coup led by the most important of its members against the previous government. Establishment The Committee was established by the People's Quorum on the basis of demand of members of anti-Legislaturalist plot in 1903. Due to assasination of the almost whole members of the government, the People's Republic of Haven needed any provisoric rule. History After the first disastrous battles of the Manticoran-Havenite War, Rob S. Pierre, Oscar Saint-Just and Cordelia Ransom took the opportunity ot carry out a long-planned overthrow of the Legislaturist government. The plotters asssinated Hereditary President Harris and almost the entire membership of the government, and most family members, during his birthday celebration with an air strike by shuttles of the People's Navy. They then blamed the Navy for the killings, and used the fear of a possible military coup to form the Committee with Pierre as chairman and rule the Republic "until a new government can be formed". They began immediately purging senior military officers and political figures to cement their rule, which was not meant to be interim at all. ( ) Though in theory a democratic body in which a majority vote determined policy, the de facto leaders of the Committee were Pierre, Saint-Just, and Cordelia Ransom. This triumvirate repeatedly purged rebellious or potentially dangerous factions from the Committee, often by playing them off against each other. Saint-Just's absolute control of State Security and Ransom's equivalent power over Public Information gave them far more authority than other Committee members, while Pierre possessed both Saint-Just's personal loyalty and the unequaled prestige of having "saved" Haven from a "military coup", as well as his official position as Chairman. By 1913 PD, the constant purges, as well as the Leveler Uprising, had resulted in a Committee utterly obedient to Pierre's will, with all of the opposing factions wiped out. The sole exception to was Esther McQueen, added to the Committee because of Haven's poor showing militarily; she possessed personal charisma, and ambition, that made her very dangerous to Pierre and Saint-Just. Pierre, however, could not eliminate her as he had done with other potential threats, since he desperately needs military victories, and she was the only commander who seemed capable of producing them. ( , ) McQueen Coup Attempt In 1914 PD, Admiral McQueen staged a coup that succeeded in killing chairman Pierre, gaining the ostensible support of a few Committee members and control of nearly all the other survivors. However, Saint-Just, remained at large and ended the coup attempt, killing every member of the Committee under McQueen's control, and the entire command structure of hte Navy, by detonating a hidden nuclear device under the Octagon, the Naval headquarters on Haven. ( ) Theisman Coup Saint-Just became the new Chairman of the Committee by default and the sole ruler of the People's Republic, but was himself killed in 1915 PD by Admiral Thomas Theisman, whose coup crushed the last remnants of the Committee of Public Safety government. He, and his supporters, restored the original Republic of Haven. ( ) Known members of the Committee * Leonard Boardman – Secretary of Public Information (1912–1914) * Angela Downey – Secretary of Technology (1905–1914) * Henri DuPres (1905–1914) * Esther McQueen – Secretary of War (1911–1914) * Cordelia Ransom – Secretary of Public Information (1905–1911) * Robert Stanton Pierre – Chairman of the Committee (1905–1914) * Oscar Saint-Just – Secretary of State Security (1905–1915) Chairman of the Committee and Secretary of War (1914–1915) * Avram Turner – Secretary of Finance (1911–1914) References Category:Republic of Haven Category:Republic of Haven Political Groups